


Among, Men, Monsters

by sebastianathefirst



Category: DRAMAtical Murder
Genre: Fluff, Kid Fic, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-09-22
Updated: 2013-11-11
Packaged: 2017-12-27 07:42:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,132
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/976218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sebastianathefirst/pseuds/sebastianathefirst
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mink and Aoba's journey is no longer their own, but they don't have complaints. Not many.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Maybe I'm a Crook

**Author's Note:**

> Keihi's character is copyrighted to masasei, while [Cauac](http://odetosebastiana.tumblr.com/post/61928740426/cauac-were-meeting-our-dads-soon-go-away) is mine.
> 
> I'll also be using "[Huracan](http://odetosebastiana.tumblr.com/post/61414601431/guys-guys-so-i-did-research-for-rurakhans-name)" to refer to Rurakhan, the former being the name of a Mayan wind god.

Huracan swooped through the window and circled Mink's head, while Ren padded towards Aoba, his fur rigid and his tail wagging furiously. Before long, there were the children's voices: one of them was whimpering, and the other heaving.

Aoba and Mink exchanged glances, and the latter, after wiping his hands, headed outside and onto the porch. He called for Mink when he saw one child needing to support the other.

Keihi's back was bowed that his brown hair nearly covered his eyes, and behind his shoulder flashed the teeth of his sister, whom he'd must have been carrying for some time. She—Cauac—was kicking in the air and shifting her weight between her hips while she looked for another spot of Keihi's skin to bite.

"Enough!" Aoba cried, picking Cauac up and off Keihi's back. Her light-colored hair was pointing in all directions, and there was large gash along her leg, blood trailing down to stain her socks. Aoba looked to Keihi, who sat on the steps of the porch, delicately touching his side as if feeling for wounds. "What in the world happened to you?"

"Put me down!" Cauac screeched, beating Aoba's arms with her fists. "Pa, _put me down_!"

"Give her here," came Mink's rumbling voice, and Aoba, his forearms beginning to sting with pain, handed Cauac over to him before kneeling in front of Keihi to help him pull up his shirt. There was a patch of skin below one of his rib that was darker than the rest, where the bruise would form. He then rushed inside ("I'm not scared of you, Dad!" came Cauac's voice from behind him) to get a compress, the ice box, and a first aid kit.

Mink carefully planted Cauac on her feet, and kept his shoulders tense should she fall. And when she did—she tried to sprint for the house, but her injured leg wouldn't cooperate—he scooped her up and folded her against him. "You're hurt, too," he whispered to her, and immediately her voice and her body stilled.

* * *

"There was a group of boys, older than Keihi," Huracan narrated as Aoba laid Keihi on the sofa. "They seemed to know of our... _situation_ , and meant to provoke him."

"Then Cauac came, and _she_ provoked _them_ ," Keihi whined. "I keep telling her to leave them alone, but she started pushing them, and..." he paused, biting his lip. "Papa, why won't Cauac listen to me? Am I doing something wrong?"

"She doesn't listen to me, either," Aoba sighed as he rubbed the edge of an ice cube against Keihi's bruise, "but it's not your fault. Let Daddy take care of Cauac for now."

"He's the only one who can," Huracan attempted to joke, but Aoba only sighed again. "She's not a bad girl, but a girl nonetheless. She may be more sensitive about us than we ourselves are."

"But there's nothing to be ashamed about!" Keihi retorts, "Papa and Daddy love her," and with a furious blush, "and me, too. Keihi's tenderness never fails to warm Aoba's heart, and he rubbed Keihi's head.

"It's not shame," came Ren, who leapt onto Aoba's lap. "Consider, Keihi, that Cauac cares for you very much, that she doesn't want you to get hurt. She cares for Aoba and Mink, too, because she reacts when people say hurtful things about them. She fights because she doesn't want harm coming to any of us."

Huracan gave a reflective hum, before adding, "Mink would do the same. Perhaps that's why she respects him."

"So would we!" Keihi thumped the fabric of the sofa. "Why can't we be the ones fighting for her?"

With a chuckle, Aoba kisses Keihi's cheek. "You'll have your chance."

* * *

"Your papa will be upset again," Mink remarked as he taped the gauze over Cauac's wound. "He would know the story by now."

Sitting on the bed while knelt at its foot, Cauac's cheeks inflated, "Do I have to say sorry this time, too?"

Mink lifted himself to his feet, and bent forward to lift a strand of Cauac's long hair in his fingers. "Only if you regret what you've done."

"They were saying mean things!" Cauac's grey eyes sparked. "About Keihi! Papa! And you, too! They had it coming! I wasn't gonna let them mess with us!"

Mink was silent. He had given up forcing people to his will a lifetime ago. And now his daughter would pick the habit up. He couldn't resist smirking.

He sat beside her on the bed, resting his back against the headboard, took a lock from her hair in his hands, and began to braid. With a huff, she turned away from him. "You're always there for Keihi," he began, "but will you let him do the same for you?"

With an exaggerated heave of her shoulders, Cauac replied, "And why would he even do that? All he ever does is tell me what to do, or make me. He doesn't care about what I want. Papa, too. No wonder they stick together."

"Hnn." Mink reached for a feather to tie off the finished braid. "Your papa commanded me once. It saved my life." He felt Cauac freeze, and watched her fist—hard, but still quite small—clench. "He is why I'm here, and that is why I'm with him. With Keihi, we promised to give others life. And with _you_..." he propped Cauac to his lap, caressing her hair, her _beautiful_ hair, "we promised to give _each other_ life, through good and bad. Cauac," At the mention of her name, Cauac curled in his arms, "I will never break that promise. And trust that neither will your papa. Or Keihi."

* * *

Without a word about how each partner dealt with their child, Mink and Aoba watched as their children squawked to each other. Though incoherent, to them, the message was transparent.

That evening, Mink complied with silence when Keihi laid a blanket over Cauac, who had fallen asleep while reading against the man's shoulder.

When she was transferred to her futon, Aoba brought Keihi just outside their bedroom to overhear Cauac's prayers ("I want Cauac and Papa to understand me like Daddy does.") before allowing Mink to tuck her to sleep "again".

And finally, after Keihi had closed the door to their room, Aoba and Mink let their bodies communicate their relief and gratitude to each other, for _this_.


	2. Two Wolves in the Dark

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Exposure to Sex, Part One.

Neither Aoba nor Mink thought much of the impediments of having children. For one, they never regretted that choice. Keihi was a thoughtful, gentle thing, and Cauac was smarter than most give her credit for. They were young and beautiful, and Aoba—and Mink, though subtly—wouldn't want them growing up just yet.

Still...some accommodations needed addressing. Sex was no longer as impulsive; caution and preparation were now necessary. And unfortunately, for some incidents, they had to learn along the way.

 

 

The first time, Keihi had barged sobbing into their bedroom because Cauac said there was a ghost in his futon. Aoba had a second to scramble out of Mink's naked lap and pull up his boxers from his thighs, while Mink only bent his legs to hide his erection. He moved only when Aoba had ushered Keihi out the room, pants halfway worn, and they didn't continue after Cauac's scolding. 

Half a year later, on a very early morning, Aoba roused Mink by rubbing his hips against his thigh. Figuring that the kids were still asleep, Aoba let slip a few lewd sounds, and Mink made no move to silence him; a sign of approval. They hadn't taken ten minutes, but when they finished, Aoba opened his eyes to see a long string-like thing dangling above the window. He kept his gaze on it as it moved upward and away.

Later that day, after repeatedly refusing to speak to Mink, Cauac pulled Aoba into the bathroom and began tugging at his clothes. When Aoba resisted, struggling to control his daughter's hands, Cauac's voice dropped, 

"Did Dad hurt you anywhere?"

Aoba blinked once.

"B-because if he did, I won't let him do it again!"

Aoba laughed so hard that he cried, and pressed his forehead against Cauac's. "Then I don't have to worry about that."

He brought her to Mink, and with her hands at her hips, they exchanged long, solemn stares.

"Don't hurt Papa."

Mink knelt down to her and caressed her cheek. "Never." 

She clung to his neck for the remainder of the evening.

 

 

For a week since then, Keihi observed that Cauac crept out of bed every night for fifteen minutes, always at the same time. When he told her off the first time, she threatened him with the ghost in his futon again. He didn't stop her until a month later, when he followed her out. He found her standing in front of their parents' bedroom, sitting beside the sleeping Ren.

Clenching his fists and puffing his chest, Keihi dragged his feet across the cold floor. "What are you doing?" he hissed.

"Sshhh!" Cauac shook her head violently at him. Standing up, she grabbed Keihi's arm and padded into the living room, crossing to the front door. "Quiet, or they'll hear!"

With no time for another warning—and because of his own curiosity—Keihi closed the door behind him and followed Cauac's movements as she climbed onto the rooftop. "This way," she chimed, "we can hear Papa and Daddy!"

Keihi's brows furrowed, "Hear them do what? They're sleeping."

"Not always," Cauac heaved Keihi across the wood of the roof. Crawling closer to the side of the roof where their rooms were, Keihi's ears perked when he heard his papa's voice. Listening harder, he heard a cry of pain, and grasped Cauac's arm. "What are they doing?"

She shrugged, "Dunno. They have to hide from us when they do it (' _Aah, Mink!_ '), so I made Daddy promise not to hurt Papa." She crossed her arms triumphantly, her hair falling off the roof. "Wanna see?"

Her smug eyes having provoked him enough, Keihi gave a slow, certain nod. Holding onto Cauac's hand, he sat on his knees over the edge of the roof, and bend forward, holding his head upside down. There was a faint light in their parents' room, and shadows were moving behind their window, but keeping on the bed. He could hear his dad grunting; something he only does when he's putting effort, while his papa sounded like he was crying as he uttered their dad's name.

"Oh! Ahn! _Mink!_ Close!"

Keihi's lip trembled when his dad panted, " _Okay._ "

He had to find his own voice again to ask Cauac, "Are you sure Papa's not hurting?" 

"Dad won't lie to me," was Cauac's simple answer, barely audible over a particularly loud sob from below. Hardly anything followed that. "They're done, I think. Come on."

When Keihi drew away from the edge and began crawling back to the porch end, he heard a bang and a squawk from behind him, and then a ruffle in the wind.

"Keihi," came Huracan's voice. "Climb down at once. Your fathers are waiting."

"Cauac, I know you're up there!" Papa hollered from below them. To Keihi, he sounded tired, but not at all pained.

"Dumb bird," Cauac grumbled as she reached the beam leading down to the front rail. She grinned at Keihi, "Let's do this again."

Filled with the anxiety of being scolded along with Cauac, Keihi fumed, "No!" and as she landed on the ground, he realized that he was too scared to clamber down.

He wailed until Mink—dressed and smelling slightly of sweat—helped him down.


	3. Love me Father, and Love my Brother as Well

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hair from the same scalp may not always point the same way, or so Keihi learns, but there is a way to bind them still.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't reveal the kids' ages to allow readers to imagine for themselves, but I'll place Keihi at fourteen and Cauac at twelve for this one.

On most times when Keihi studied crafting under Mink, they would sit Cauac down and use her hair for practice. Or, Keihi would watch as Mink meticulously arranged Cauac's locks into braids and knots, ornamented with flowers, beads, feathers, strings, bands. He could only go as far as weave a ringlet of flowers, and he would only do so when she wanted so. As soon as she was able to perform chores, she would attend to those as Aoba took her place as a craft dummy.

The tradition was since established that when the appropriate occasions arrive, Mink would do Cauac's hair, while Keihi was trusted with Aoba's. He grew out his own hair for himself to adorn, only to end up sporting one braid like his father, or his head would feel too heavy. He watched Cauac's hair grow and grow and grow, but she would never fix it herself or at least clump it all together, to Aoba's annoyance. To pacify his partner, Mink would pull it in a thick plait every morning before school, and Keihi would watch, harboring an aspiration to be able to do the same.

But month after month, year after year, Cauac would yell as if Keihi had tugged at her hair instead of caressed it. She would try to hold it all in her hands and fling it over the farthest shoulder from him, glaring and hissing (which Keihi would think was cute, unless she snapped her teeth). Aoba was no better; she would pry his hands off her, and cry for Mink when she couldn't. Keihi didn't understand. It was only hair; everyone had theirs cut regularly. But Cauac would never have it; so resolved she was that she would bring home her swimming cap to hide her hair in it when the family visited the barber's.

And so, when it finally got cut, most unceremoniously by a boy as a prank—a _prank_!—Keihi didn't understand why Cauac would take back the broken locks from that boy before leaving the classroom. No bites, no scratches, no screams, no words. The teachers notified Keihi first, and he prevented them from calling his parents. "I'll handle it," he told them with a smile, "please, don't trouble them."

He didn't find her until after school, and in the tool shed near the sports fields. A janitor had told him so, adding that she never left since she entered. "Your sister, huh...she's been sounding like a dying animal for a good while now."

Keihi stopped at the door to the shed, making no move to knock. She had locked herself in the bathroom often enough for him to learn that she wants to be alone when she's crying. "Cauac," he called, "may I?"

A few seconds of silence before the door shook in its place. "Go away."

He sighed, inaudible to her. Why does he detest him so...? "Do you ever get tired of pushing me away? I want to help, Cau-cau."

"Don't _call_ me that!" Another bang at the door. "And I'm tired of you looking after me! Just leave me alone!"

Keihi pondered. The smallest of inquiries from himself or Aoba would rouse Cauac's hostility. Mink, he observed, would not react until she came to him. Their bond was hardly verbal, but intimate. Was that the relationship that she wanted? What if she wanted to see Mink instead of himself?

_What would Dad do?_

His very heart shook at the thought. He adored Mink, but he couldn't understand half of what he did until he said something. Cauac, however, never seemed to need to hear to understand.

"Dad would..." he uttered to himself, "not say anything..." he bent his legs, the knees of his pants soiled with dirt, "and wait."

He turned around, rested on his haunches, and leaned his back against the shed's door. In two minutes, he was already fidgeting; Cauac's sobs only agitated him further. What was she still doing in there? And her hair...

Her hair. Only Mink would touch her hair. Only Mink would...

And now that her hair was cut...

His chest was struck with a sudden tightening, and Keihi choked on an exhale.

 _A wordless bond,_ he thought as he coughed.

When he calmed down, he could form out the words Cauac was moaning to herself, "Daddy, I'm sorry, Daddy, Daddy."

He was made to choke again.

A long hour passed; Keihi could only tell so by the sun, already halfway sunk. By this time, he ought to be up the mountain, closer to their house than downtown. Cauac was reduced to sniffles and ruffles and sighs, and Keihi was at his limit. It was hard being Mink.

Rising to his feet, he gave the door two soft knocks. "Cauac, let's go home."

He felt the air tense behind the door, and he backed away when Cauac burst it open. "I told you to leave me alone!"

Her eyes were swollen and red like they were on fire, yet her cheeks and her blouse were wet. Her hair was loose and frazzled around her head, with strands unevenly ending along her ears and shoulders. In her hand was the plait that was presumably cut off, the braids were nearly undone, and only the band held the locks together.

"Cauac, we can't stay here," Keihi urged, "everyone will be worried."

"Idiot!" Cauac stomped, "I can't let them see me like this!"

"Cauac—"

" _No!_ "

"—it's okay!" Keihi raised his voice over Cauac's. He watched for any signs of violence but she only steeled her jaw. "I mean," he continued. "It's okay to be sad. And scared. But you don't have to be. Your hair...Papa and I would _never_ —we'll never hurt it! We just...I..."

His cheeks were getting furiously hot. He'd never explained himself this much to Cauac before. Half of him hoped she would ignore him by this time. But he eyed her again, and she didn't move. She held his gaze, and he remarked in the back of his mind of how her intensity would overwhelm him.

When will she stop looking at him like that? And the answer hit Keihi immediately: _when he learns not to look away_.

Keeping eye contact, he placed his hand on her shoulder, giving it a light squeeze. "I'm not Dad," he began, and Cauac visibly tensed, "and I don't know how far I can go trying to be him, even for you. But..." he swallowed a large, sticky lump in his throat, as if he'd been the one crying, and not Cauac, "...I care for you just as much as he does. Papa, too. And that feeling goes beyond the hair."

Slowly, Keihi inched his fingers from Cauac's shoulder, along her neck, behind her ear, and into the first strands of her hair. She grimaced, but she didn't move away. Keihi drew away, but Cauac caught his hand.

"Walk home with me."

* * *

After sunset, Huracan would circle the forest between the road and the clearing of the house, to guide anyone who would come home by night time. Keihi sent him back with Cauac's broken hair, and minutes later, Aoba arrived with a flashlight and a face towel.

"Oh, my girl, my girl," he breathed, and was alarmed when Cauac started shedding more tears than he had just cleaned. He looked to Keihi, who smiled, _she's okay_ , because she knows her papa loves her.

Later, with Cauac and Aoba in the bath, Mink arrived, and Keihi sat with him while Huracan disclosed the story. He was ever silent, but his eyes were glimmering behind his weary features.

"Keihi." He jumped when Mink called him from across the coffee table.

"Dad?"

"I'm proud of you. I will always be."

Keihi's cheeks burned for the second time that day, and from then, they cycle began anew. Until Cauac's hair could be braided again, Keihi used flowers with pins. Then came the bands that he had woven with Mink, then the feathers and the beads, and he combined these all to make a headdress for her birthday.

Unbeknownst to her, Mink had allowed him to keep some of Cauac's locks, and he would practice braiding it when she was away. He had also used some of the hair as binding for the headdress, and Cauac didn't seem to realize it.

Keihi did not notice time pass until Cauac sat in front of him one morning, with her back turned to him. Her hair was already at length with her breasts. He wove his fingers into her scalp, and she sighed at his touch.

And, drawing nearer to place a greeting kiss on her shoulder, Keihi took Cauac's hair, and began to braid.


	4. The Queen Bee and Her Men

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cauac loses a man, but those who matter will stay with her forever.

Mink felt Aoba’s hand on his arm almost immediately as he entered the house. There was a fire, but there’s no one feeding it. It was the children’s job while Aoba prepared dinner. The couch was empty, and there were no books on the coffee table to suggest that anybody was reading.

Mink steeled his features and and squeezed Aoba’s hand before allowing him to remove his coat. “I want us to be with her together,” said Aoba.

"Cauac," Mink mused. Aoba nodded. "Keihi?"

"With her right now." Aoba paused, blinking, pursing his lips. "She wanted him to be there. The other one… _the other boy_  wouldn’t do that anymore.”

Mink held his breath. He replayed Aoba’s words in his head. More important than the reference to the man that Cauac had spoken a great deal of, he heard the  _contempt_  in Aoba’s tone. Mink, at first, felt some shame for not permitting Cauac to introduce someone else as family, but his instincts  _had_  warned him against this one.

"Bring food, but nothing messy," Mink refused to make a verbal comment, and Aoba didn’t point it out. He folded his coat and placed it on the sofa, where it could either be laundered or used as a blanket for later. He could get by without coffee for now; it was almost unethical to brew a cup with his girl in distress.

Still, he offered silent thanks to the gods, who permitted him to keep her for a little longer.

* * *

Cauac could not make a coherent sound when Mink and Aoba entered the room. All that came out were sobs and chokes, and Keihi, who sat beside her, rubbed his hand a little more vigorously against her back. On her other side was Ren on his hind legs, his front paws on her thigh.

Aoba handed the bowl of apple slices to Mink, and patted Keihi’s arm. “May I?”

Keihi froze for a few moments, and as he softened, he leaned to whisper in Cauac’s ear. When it was over, he scooted away, and Aoba held Cauac before she could lean over. She began to weep again as Aoba circled his arms around her.

"Don’t hold back," Aoba sighed against her hair. "Don’t hold back. We’ve got you."

Mink bent down, and allowed Keihi to take an apple chunk before setting the bowl beside him. “We don’t need to know,” he said slowly, “and you don’t have to tell us anything.”

"Except what you want now," Aoba added, "what you  _really_  want. I mean, I don’t really want to…okay,  _maybe_  I really want to give that boy a piece, but…it doesn’t help much.”

Cauac snorted, and it wasn’t a pretty sound given her stuffed nose, but it managed to make the room smile. In another minute the atmosphere grew dense again, but not inappropriately.

"He called me a bitch," she began, "a stupid bitch who acted out because I wanted attention." Cauac pulled her knees to her chest. "He said no man would ever love a loony like me."

"Aoba," came Ren, "you’re readings suggest—”

“—Don’t bring it up,” Aoba hissed. “I’ll be angry on another day. Cauac doesn’t need that right now.”

"Daddy," Cauac spoke in a smaller voice. "Is Raffy he telling the truth? Am I a loony?"

All heads turned to Mink, momentarily musing at his position before their feet, and how it was wrong  _and_  right.

Ren bounced off as Mink sat in his place. Immediately he took her hair in his fingers. “I’m certain that we’re not normal,” he began, but it’s nothing to be ashamed of.”

"I was telling her," Keihi spoke, seemingly brimming, "that being loony meant she was following the moon cycles, so it’s actually  _natural_.”

"Enthusiastic," Mink chuckled, "yet…true."

"Cauac, there is nothing wrong with you," Aoba squeezed his daughter again. "You have to believe that. Everyone in this room does, and the right person will, when he comes along."

"I’m kinda glad I don’t have to share my baby sister with anyone yet," Keihi admitted sheepishly. "I’m confident that no one can care for her better than me."

"…Oniichan, stop that," Cauac grumbled, but Aoba laughed, and Mink exchanged the bowl of apples for his daughter’s arms.

Next week, Cauac will break the skin of her knuckle against this dishonorable man—boy—'s teeth, in Aoba’s name.

..Yes, he was definitely glad that she didn’t have to leave him yet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Shelagal's ask blog](http://withpipeinhand.tumblr.com) got an anon for teenage daughter breaking up with a guy and this happened.


End file.
